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The design is so simple/obvious that I believe many people could have come up with it independently. It seems a bygone conclusion that the Chinese company was i
by msie 11y ago
The design is so simple/obvious that I believe many people could have come up with it independently. It seems a bygone conclusion that the Chinese company was intentionally stealing from the US one but that might not be the case. Under patent law it doesn't matter if you invented something independently. I too would probably scoff at the correspondence from the US firm thinking it was some patent troll. I mean how do you patent a "board on a rolling pin"???
- analog31 11y agoI'm not a lawyer, but I have a handful of patents, and have been involved in the question of whether something is infringing on a patent or not. What I've heard from patent lawyers is that obviousness can be very difficult to argue. Taking two patented things and combining them is kind of the gold standard for obviousness. From there, it gets more difficult and murky.
- rhino369 11y agoObviousness under patent law is judged at the time of the invention. Most (all?) inventions would have eventually being discovered by someone else. Patents are the reward for getting there first. Chinese companies ignore patent letters and suits because they are essentially immune from US courts as long as they stay under the radar and don't sell directly in the USA. > I mean how do you patent a "board on a rolling pin"??? You can reduce any invention to a couple word summary that seems absurd. The transistor is "just" an amplifier.
- msie 11y agoThere is prior art for the design so we cant tell if they ripped off the US guy. Also look at the history of patent trolls.